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The Boogeyman
Marty Wright first entered the world of professional wrestling to take part in the fourth season of the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) produced reality television competition Tough Enough. On October 15, 2004, he attended the two day event in Venice Beach, California, where he was among eight finalists chosen. After surviving the first day of eliminations he admitted that he was actually 40 years old — five years over the competition's cut off point — and not 30 as he'd claimed. As a result he was cut from the competition. On the July 11, 2005 episode of WWE Raw, horror movie style vignettes began airing to promote the debut of Wright in his "Boogeyman" personality. After a few weeks the vignettes were moved from Raw to SmackDown!, but his planned debut was delayed when he hyperextended both knees and needed time to recover. The Boogeyman made his first appearance on October 13, 2005 SmackDown!. The Boogeyman started to recite a version of the child's chant One, two, Freddy's coming for you from the movie A Nightmare on Elm Street before smashing an oversized alarm clock on his own head. The Boogeyman continued to "terrorize" other Superstars for the next couple of months. For the next few weeks The Boogeyman (who was then a tweener) appeared in unexpected places backstage (closets, vans, et cetera), reciting different nursery rhymes and holding up clocks before screaming his catchphrase "I'm The Boogeyman and I'm comin' to get'cha!" and laughing maniacally. This would leave the performer(s) that had discovered him both confused and creeped out, usually ending with them backing out of the room slowly while the commentators remarked on how strange the whole situation was. At the 2005 Survivor Series, The Boogeyman helped SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long defeat his Raw counterpart, Eric Bischoff. He made his official in-ring SmackDown! debut on December 2, defeating Simon Dean in a squash that saw him repeatedly scream, "I'm the Boogeyman!" at a confused and terrified Dean. During this match, he took a handful of live worms from his pocket and stuffed them into his mouth as commentators Michael Cole and Tazz screamed in disgust. For the next few weeks, The Boogeyman won numerous squash matches that focused on the antics of The Boogeyman. Opponents were generally "flattened" in the ring, left with worms in their mouths and/or spit on their faces. His official pay-per-view debut was at December's Armageddon when he came to the ring to confront Vito and Nunzio who were dressed as Santa Claus and an elf. Boogeyman's first major feud occurred with JBL and his "fixer" Jillian Hall, began when he stalked the duo throughout a number of shows. During an episode of SmackDown! he caught a fleeing Hall and shoved worms down the back of her skirt. On another, during a Piper's Pit segment, he not only sniffed the "growth" on Jillian's face, but licked it and bit it off. Layfield and The Boogeyman eventually met in a one-on-one contest at the 2006 Royal Rumble, with Boogeyman picking up the win in under two minutes. A subsequent feud with Booker T, which saw him again stalking a wrestler and his female companion (this time Booker's wife Sharmell) culminated at WrestleMania 22, when Boogeyman pinned Booker T after kissing Sharmell while holding a mouthful of worms. The match was exceptionally short because shortly before WrestleMania Boogeyman tore his left biceps at a house show. To explain his absence to rehab his injury, Booker T and Sharmell obtained a restraining order against The Boogeyman, who actually had surgery on April 4, to repair his biceps tear. As SummerSlam approached, The Boogeyman began appearing in TV spots to promote the event. Vignettes also began airing advertising his return to SmackDown!, however, on September 20, 2006 WWE.com reported that he had been released from the company. Less than a month later, on October 6, WWE.com announced that he had re-signed with the company. Boogeyman returned on the October 27 SmackDown!; while teaming with Layla, he started a feud with The Miz and Kristal Marshall. During the feud he again terrorized and stalked his opponents, spitting worms at them and scaring them at every opportunity, and eventually ended The Miz's undefeated streak at the Armageddon pay-per-view. Wright then feuded with Finlay, who ended The Boogeyman's undefeated streak when Hornswoggle interfered. On the February 2 edition of SmackDown! during a match against Chris Benoit for the WWE United States Championship, Boogeyman abducted Hornswoggle, distracting Finlay and giving Benoit a chance to win the match with a roll-up. On the February 16 edition of SmackDown! The Boogeyman appeared with a little person of his own, Little Boogeyman, who was portrayed by an actor named Chris Hollyfield. Chris also previously had played Lil Booker T. His purpose was to counteract Hornswoggle, who was proving a problem in one-on-one matches with Finlay. The Boogeyman and the Little Boogeyman lost to Finlay and Hornswoggle in a mixed tag team match at No Way Out. The team lost a rematch the following week on SmackDown!; Little Boogeyman was pinned by Finlay, after Wright had chased away Hornswoggle. The Boogeyman returned to in ring action when teamed with Kane during his feud with William Regal and Dave Taylor. This also marked the return of Little Boogeyman. The feud would be short lived as Boogeyman and Little Boogeyman would then start another feud with Finlay and Hornswoggle. Boogeyman and Little Boogeyman were defeated in a mixed tag match by Finlay and Hornswoggle at Saturday Night's Main Event. The Boogeyman ended his tenure on SmackDown with a loss to Mark Henry in a squash match, as part of Henry's new "Path of Destruction" gimmick. After that match, Mark Henry then beat up Little Boogeyman who was at ringside, and Henry gave him a body splash, (kayfabe) severely injuring him. This turned out to be the last time Little Boogeyman appeared on WWE TV. On the June 11 edition of Raw, The Boogeyman was moved from the SmackDown brand to ECW in the annual WWE draft. The next day he debuted for the brand and defeated Matt Striker, beginning a feud with him. On July 10 in New Orleans, The Boogeyman was a guest during a Striker's Classroom segment, ostensibly to be educated on worms, only to be attacked by Stiker's debuting enforcer, Big Daddy V. The Boogeyman was not seen for the next three weeks, finally re-emerging on the July 31 episode — with a new face paint design and black contact lenses — to scare Big Daddy V off after he finished a match. Boogeyman was taken out by Big Daddy V from behind after a distraction from Striker a week later. On the August 14 episode of ECW, Boogeyman scored a disqualification victory over ECW Champion John Morrison after Morrison shoved the referee. Boogeyman went on to successfully team with CM Punk at Saturday Night's Main Event against Morrison and Big Daddy V. On the August 28 episode of ECW, Boogeyman was one of the participants in the Fatal Four Way match for a shot at Morrison's title; however, CM Punk was the victor. On September 4, on ECW, Boogeyman beat Matt Striker by disqualification when Big Daddy V interfered, and went on to hit Boogeyman with a ghetto drop (Samoan drop)on the outside of the ring. On the September 18 episode of ECW, Boogeyman and Big Daddy V finally faced off in their first one-on-one match, which Boogeyman lost. Boogeyman's return to wrestling action was initially delayed due to a torn calf muscle, but it had also been reported that he was having dental surgery done to replace missing teeth. On the October 7 episode of ECW a vignette was aired promoting The Boogeyman's return. Additional vignettes aired for a few weeks after that. On the October 13, 2008 edition of Raw, The Boogeyman returned. The Boogeyman made his ECW return on the November 25 episode, in a segment with John Morrison and The Miz. He made his return to in ring competition on December 9 against Scott Reed, a local talent, who he defeated with ease. On the December 30 episode of ECW, he lost to John Morrison and The Miz in a No DQ match with Finlay as his partner. On the January 20, 2009 edition of ECW, he defeated Paul Burchill by disqualification, his first victory over a non-enhancement talent since returning to the brand. His last appearance on WWE programming was on March 3, 2009 where he lost in a match against Kane. The next day on March 4, 2009 WWE announced that they had released he from his WWE contract. In December 2012, Wright, as The Boogeyman, made an appearance at the annual Slammy Awards, sneaking up on former rival Booker T. For Halloween, WWE uploaded YouTube videos starring The Boogeyman on November 1, 2013 and on October 25, 2014. On December 22, 2014, The Boogeyman appeared in a segment on the WWE App. On January 25th, 2015, Boogeyman returned as a surprise entrant in the Royal Rumble, making his first return to WWE in-ring competition. He was quickly eliminated by Bray Wyatt. On November 6, 2015, it was announced that The Boogeyman had signed a legends contract with WWE. Category:Current Alumni Category:American wrestlers Category:Male professional wrestlers Category:People from Arizona